Uh, Janx- just wondering…was that last post of yours a parody, or was it truth?
Considering the fact that the OP of this thread, the one in which Jarbaby posted, said (in part) “Dogs maul and kill people all the time”, I think it’s safe to assume that it was, indeed, this thread she was referring to, and not your OP (in another thread entirely). Stating that dogs “maul and kill people all the time” is a tad hysterical. I think that is her point, if she’ll forgive me for speaking for her.
Sheesh, talk about hysteria :rolleyes:
Well, to be honest, this offhandedness about dogs biting people strikes me as a TAD cavalier.
Dogs do maul, disfigure and kill people. Perhaps not all the time, but sufficiently often that sometimes a little judicial hysteria may be in order where they are concerned. And may I repeat, it is not my intention to dispose of this dog illegally, no matter how much the idea of its demise may please me right now. I just want to see the fucker confined to its back yard. Double sheesh.
settle yourself down there pohojen, I was referring to this OP, that’s why I posted here (like Mauvaise said).
I understand that dogs CAN be dangerous and SHOULD be kept in the backyard,…but to say they MAUL AND KILL PEOPLE ALL THE TIME makes it sound like those of us with a fifty pound fat beagle sitting around the house are raising dragons.
People rape and kill other people, with a lot more frequency than dogs mauling, disfiguring and killing people. Does this mean I should excercise a little “judicial hysteria” everytime I run across another person?
Look, I’m not saying that in this particular case you don’t have very good reason to be afraid of bodily harm, but that doesn’t mean you should paint all dogs, even all rotties, with the same brush.
I was bit by a doberman (who jumped a fence to get at me) when I was a child. Not only am I not afraid of dogs, I don’t even have a prejudice against dobermans. I judge all dogs (as I do people) on a case by case basis.
I haven’t followed your thread enough to know if you’ve posted a follow up, but there was some very good advice (mixed in with the illegal and cruel advice): document, in writing and with video/camera, every incident that this dog harrasses you. Call the cops and/or animal control after every single incident. Send certified letters to the owners with copies of your evidence that their dog is getting out and you feel threatened (no matter if they believe their dog is vicious or not).
If they won’t take action, continue calling the police, if you annoy them enough, they’ll take action, if only to shut you up ;). If the dog has done any damage to your car or property, take your neighbours to small claims court. If you can prove that the dog is not contained, you will win.
I agree that all this is a pain in the ass and a lot of work that you shouldn’t have to do, but obviously your neighbours are assholes and will only cooperate if legally forced to. Good luck.
Well we have thusfar been unable to get the dog on video. Mostly because we think he knows we’re trying to film him now and has stopped chasing the car down the driveway. I can’t get my sister out from the motor home to get a good angle on him charging at me when I go to get into my car. I think perhaps over the weekend when I’m not working we’ll have to get in her car together and I can probably get some good film from out of the passenger window. I only hope that we can get something done before it snows and I’m out in the middle of the night in the dark cleaning snow and ice off my car with him doing his thing. If he sneaks up on me in the dark I’d probably wet my pants.
All of this makes me think of SNL…
Ding dong
Who’s there?
Avon lady!
Whereupon we open the door and he snarls and jumps for our throats…
At least I still have a sense of humor.
** Zoggie ** wrote
Um…Not sure I follow you. I don’t do parodies because I’m just not that funny. My brand of sarcasm is usually very obvious, bordering on juvenile – but hay, that’s just me. So let me clarify.
The first part where I talk about what a guard dog is all about, is my opinion based on my experience with our dogs – and a very good friend of ours who breeds security and service dogs especially Labradors, Rotweilers and Dobermans. Also, if you care to, go to google (or the libraray) and look up Rotweiler breeding history. You will find that through out history these have been working dogs bread to violently protect its masters property. Period. They have been used as dogs of soldiers (it is said) since the time of the roman legions. Then as cattle dogs. (the dogs owner would place payment for cattle in a pouch around the dogs neck for protection is the legend). Almost unknown at the turn of the last century, it has come back to security and military use. It is natural for these dogs to go ballistic once in a while because of it’s in bread nature and NO ONE can predict what will trigger a violent episode.
The next part about the child being attacked is pure fiction, notice I prefaced the story with “imagine” If that was not clear I apologize. I invented this sad tail to illustrate that it’s not a good idea to wait around for the dog to follow it’s natural instincts, because sooner, or later, something VERY ugly is likely to happen. Sort of like the situation in San Francisco, I read in the news that the woman who was killed and her partner were afraid something like this would happen, and sure enough it did. (I know the dog was not a Rottie but it is a situation close to the OP’s)
The In the Original thread the OP sounds like a reasonable person in an unreasonable situation, he is not me, thus I suggested he call the press and make everyone involved look bad, so the authorities would DO SOMETHING a reasonable idea I thought. But since this is the pit I stated what I would do, and would have done, to avoid an ugly scene like the one I invented, (BTW I have a 7 year old son and I would just DIE if I allowed any harm to come to him).
The last part about being attacked by an Iketia when I was Six, is true and I still have the scars. It was the second day that I was learning how to ride a bike, me and my dad were on our street. He gave me a big push and away I went (Weeee), then out of nowhere our neighbors dog zooms out in the street and goes ape shit on my leg. My dad, being no small man, was able to get the dog off me. The neighbor was very upset and sorry. Soon after the dog “ran away”, which now I understand meant he got a one way trip to the humane society. So I hope that clears things up. I love dogs, and I actually think the Rotwiler is one of the most beautiful animals around, they don’t exactly scare me, I just have a good healthy respect for what this kind of animal can do. And under the OP’s circumstances I would not take ANY chances.
Oh, when you said “imagine” I thought you meant imagine a scenario that happened ten years ago. The detail about your daughter asking why you hadn’t killed the dog seemed so over the top I figured it couldn’t be true, but I figured I’d ask to be sure.
But even so, in a situation like that, how would you know to kill it? I mean…an animal walks over to you, and you think the proper response is to shoot it because it might go apeshit?
[quote]
Well we have thus far been unable to get the dog on video. Mostly because we think he knows we’re trying to film him now and has stopped chasing the car down the driveway. **
Damn! That sounds like one smart dog! It’ll be a dead giveaway if he hires an agent and starts wearing dark shades.
Just curious, pohjohnen. I forget from your other thread. What is your reaction when the dog charges? Do you act scared and hustle out of the way? Or stand your ground and face him down? How old/large are you? What clothes/footwear are you generally wearing? Have you tried carrying and brandishing a stick/bat?
I was walking Daisy last night from 8:30-9 during my kid’s piano lesson, in a neighborhood other than where I live. Off leash, of course. Did not encounter another pedestrian on my side of the street. Picked up one pile.
At one point, a door opened across the street and a yellow blur came charging across the street at Daisy and me. I called sharply to Daisy, “Come here!” And the other dog - which turned out to be an equally stupid Golden, beat my dog to me begging for petting. So I brought both dogs across the street - both readily followed me off leash - and asked the other guy to pick which stupid bitch he wanted. 
Bottomline, I knew a large dog was rushing at me not in it’s owner’s control, and nothing about it worried me.
Yes, I am sure dogs occasionally attack without warning. But I have never personally experienced this in my thousands of contacts with hundreds or thousands of dogs. I was able to control the situation to large extent because my own dog was so in my control. If the other dog showed any aggression, then I could have done any number of things to diffuse the situation. I have on many occasions intimidated bristling aggressive dogs. And they have all been pretty darn predictable.
And, if the other dog for whatever reason decided to be the rarity that attacked me or my dog, I would have kicked and stomped the shit out of it without any compunction. I have only been the least concerned when I was barefoot or wearing shorts and sandals. But I have been fortunate enough, despite going out of my way to put myself in situations where I come into contact with strage dogs - to never have had to physically defend myself.
** Zoggie ** wrote
And I’m glad you did, I went out of my way to make that scene a bit to dramatic in hopes that it would be obvious. Glad we could get that cleared up. It was just an ugly scenario cobbled together from things that have happened here in the past.
Certainly NOT! If a dog was just to “walk over to me”, even if it was a 165 pound Rotweiler who just wanted to say hi, I might talk to it softly and attempt to pet it, being careful/casual enough not to provoke a defensive response and maybe become friends – I love dogs. But if this same Rotweiler came charging around the neighbors house, a neighbor who’s other guard dogs had already killed one of my pets by the way, breaking through an invisible fence along the way – then growling and snarling and thretening, (basically doing its job), that would be IT! Dog has already proven it’s aggressive nature, and the owners have already shown their total lack of responsibility. This only happens to me ONCE on my own property. If the dog let me, I would go back into the house, load my shot gun, go back out and blow it’s K9 head off. This would not happen though because if it were me I would have done the same thing to the Iketa when I caught it mauling the cat in MY back yard. The neighbors would already have gotten a clue about me and would have built a proper fence around the front yard or learned to keep the other guard dogs in the back. That’s all. After that I would be telling it to the judge, fine with me. But I wont be worried for my kids safety when they get off the school bus, or my wife when she comes back from the store – at least not where a mean dog is concerned.
Zoggie - minor point: Akita is the dog, Ikea the store.
I obviously meant Janx.
Sorry, I could NEVER get that straight EYE-keee-TAH!
Check!
Dinsdale - I was being facetious about the dog knowing we were trying to film him. That was a ha ha ha.
Regarding your other points, I am not a he. I live with my sister and we are both middle aged women. And I am not afraid of dogs, that is dogs that don’t come running at me snarling. When he does it, I don’t hustle out of the way. Who wants to look like prey? My sister, however, once got a very bad bite (not from this dog, but a few years back) and had to spent a few nights in the hospital getting antibiotics because it cracked a bone in her finger. They couldn’t even sew it up. She is, understandably, more afraid of the dog than I am. We have a Chow Chow. He is confined in our fenced front yard and the gate is padlocked. Do you think it would ever cross our minds except in a moment of insanity to take him out for a walk on a leash? What do you think the rottweiler would do if we tried that? That’s how my sister got a very bad bite. We put up a fence to keep their damned dogs out of our back yard, but god forbid we should fail to fence in our driveway which adjoins their front yard. How silly of us.
Just for you doubting Thomas’s who seem think we’re just being wusses about this dog, when I get the film I’ll put it online so y’all can see what we’ve been contending with. Then I’ll expect a sincere apology from each and every one of you. 
Janx, that read like a really obnoxious piece of e-mail glurge.
jarbaby, our dog also bit the vet once, and the groomer. The difference is, she’s a fourteen-year-old Westie with arthritis and painful toenails who tends to be grumpy when people fuss with her.
Ikea also bites.
TAKE IT BACK. IKEA IS THE GREATEST STORE ON THE PLANET.
Guin, Marge bit the vet because she attempted to take her temperature rectally and WITHOUT WARNING. I believe it’s a natural reaction any of us would have 
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Dinsdale *
**
Just a counter-story:
A year or so ago, I was over at the animal shelter running some reports. As I left, I walked past a staff member walking a large, friendly mutt. I held my hand out for him to sniff and said Hi as I walked past, as I always do with dogs at the shelter.
As I turned away, I heard a snarl, and I jerked my hand away. Good thing: the dog managed to get a mouthful of my sleeve, and ripped my shirt instead of ripping into my wrist.
The staff member was shocked: until the dog saw me, he’d been perfectly friendly to everyone. And I’ve never elicited a similar reaction from another dog. Even so, the dog watched me as long as I was in sight, glaring and growling deep in his throat.
Dogs you know might be predictable. Dogs you don’t know aren’t. This doesn’t mean you should be terrified of them, but it does mean you shouldn’t let your guard down.
Daniel
I consider myself to be something of a dog expert. I raise and train Border Collies, have had dogs all my life.
Being in proximity to an aggressive dog is a scary thing. A Rottweiler is a large and powerful breed.
Invisible fences can be little more than a psychological decoration if not used properly. Some dogs don’t take to the training, or get used to being shocked. Once they know that it’s just temporary, and stops when they cross the line, the fence is useless.
The Op in the other thread has a legitimate concern.
Without knowing the dog I’m not sure what the level of threat is here.
There are a couple of paths available. The first and the easiest is to ask the neighbor to help you make friends with the dog.
Meet the dog on its terms with the neighbor present, and make friends. Then with the neighbor still present, walk out of your house and to your car, and make a point of walking over to the dog, and greeting it.
Once the dog knows you’re a buddy, your problems may end.
Sadly, this won’t work for all dogs. Some are just very aggressive. Dogs have personalities, just like people, and some are mean assholes.
It’s going to be tough to tell whether the dog is just displaying or is generally presenting a threat, but that’s a distinction you’ll need to find out.
If you don’t have success making friends, talk to the neighbor and if you can’t get satisfaction talk to the police.
You are well within your rights to kill a dog that comes onto your property and menaces you.
Gosh Scylla, I don’t WANT to make friends with this dog. I want them to confine it to their back yard. Don’t know if you’ve caught my history with these neighbors, but their animals have been a thorn in my side for years, since their Akita killed my cat in my back yard. I just want them to be responsible for their dogs, as we are, and follow the law. Apparently a great deal to ask, I know. Besides, even if I did as you suggest, this would not help our guests when they come over.